Portsmouth's Chaucer House is set to be transformed into a support centre for young people

The former student accommodation building will be transformed into a youth facility as part of the government’s youth investment fund. The fund commits more than £300m to renovate up to 300 facilities over the next two years – supporting an additional 45,000 young people per year across the country. Portsmouth City Council plans to spend £1,393,259 on refurbishing King George V Playing Fields in Cosham, the works for Chaucer House and improvements to the Drayton scout hut, and a community centre in Hillside.

A council spokesperson said: “It is being refurbished to provide a city centre venue which will offer support to young people. The facility will be used by both the voluntary sector and Portsmouth City Council services.

“The building is empty and was available for the council to let.”

Stephen Morgan, Labour MP for Portsmouth South, added: “I want every young person in our city to get the skills they need for work and life to succeed and thrive. That’s why I welcome the grant awarded to our city to renovate Chaucer House into our city centre to support an additional 124 young people per year. The transformation of an empty building in the heart of Portsmouth is long overdue and I am pleased this will benefit the future generation of our city. I will continue to lobby the Government to ensure our community gets the investment it deserves”.

The initial proposal by PCC detailed plans to renovate the interior and exterior of the facility. This would provide opportunities for career support, counselling provision, volunteering, and access to partner organisations.

Penny Mordaunt, Conservative MP for Portsmouth North, welcomed the funding including £18,000 for the 70th Portsmouth 1st Drayton Scout Group and £11,714 for the Hillside and Wymering Centre. She said: “I wish to offer my thanks to those who have worked tirelessly on bids to the central government. It is because of their work that today we have secured these awards. This is great news for Portsmouth, great news for the successful projects and great news for the many young people who will benefit from this money and better facilities.”

Cllr Suzy Horton, the city council’s cabinet member for children, families & education, also added her delight. She said: "This is the culmination of a long-term vision by Portsmouth City Council of developing high quality venues for our young people as part of our vision for current youth services. The Youth Investment Funding bid came about after we identified Chaucer House as a great, central hub for running some youth services from as well as providing a venue where young people would want to be.

“We’re pleased that this is one part of an emerging picture of high-quality venues and opportunities for young people in the city and we’re particularly proud that our Youth Cabinet and other youth groups were involved in the design”